Pedal pedal

Finaly some races poped up on this rather large piece of landmass so peter and i packed our bags and headed. First was on Wednesday 26th in Oisans France. It was an awesome track with a large percentage being rock and really rather technical. Pete and i managed plenty of runs though my rear shock was blown so acted like a right pric at the best if times. My race had some to be desighered after catching the girl up infront and having to wait a little. This was then followed by the discovery that i lost by 200ths of a second. . . gutted. Oh well you lose some and win some. Here is a what racing is all about, lazing out playing soduku with magnificent views behind, its a hard life and someones gotta do it. Im not grumpy just concentraiting real hard as to where i can put that 2.
From here it was off to switzerland to see my main man Gery who was going to fix my blown shock. True to his word he fixxed it and Mr V10(my bike) feels as though it has a new lease of life. 30 minutes down the road was Ixs cup #2 in Wiriehorn. This was also a wicked track which took a bit of adjusting to as i wasn't used to a rear shock that actually did what it was ment to. Pete and i pumped out the runs trying to get too much of a good thing. . . . never did get enough. I seeded shockingly as i caught 2 girls infront at the most inconvenient places. Race came and run 1 of 2 was a beaut but not good enough to beat Marielle Saner whos a fast wee lass at the slowest of times. I had to go 7 seconds faster than my first run which i thought was a minta(wicked) and i wasn't sure exactly how i was to do that. I backed myself for once and felt great all the way down the track. Its an amazing feeling when you surprize yourself and i was really happy with the way i handled the pressure of having to push myself. somehow i managed to beat marielles first time which she didn't beat in her 2nd run which ment i took 1st.
I came home to a letter from my sister which made me laugh till my eyes fulled with water and by belly hurt. That leaves us with 9 days to go and 1 more race till we board that plane and kiss france goodbye.

its sad but its gotta happen
good times
jenna makgill

Tour rolls into town

What i failed to mention on my previous post was that the tour de france stopped and started in morzine on the 21-22nd july. Bugger knows how i forgot that one. Its amazing, massive trucks 15-20 meters long arrive at 2 in the morning (i was out in town so i know) after somehow getting up the stupidly tight alpine roads. I see it as trying to get the circle block into the square hole of those childrens toys, these trucks were big. By morning the town is set up with barriers and overrun by people in yellow hats that were being given out. I figured out that its better to watch it on TV untill there about to come into town because you dont see much when your just standing by the road side. Whats just as amazing is how fast they pack up, by the next day everything is gone like a streaker when he realizes hes being chased by the cops.

Here is peter and joe wandering through Tour de france crowds with our shopping. Did i mention it was like 34 degrees.
People were everywhere and there was still 7 hours till the riders arrived

The trucks were big enough in general let alone the additional fact that they rose up to have 2 stories. If i was still 5years old id want one of those.
our place it great, peter and i heading down to catch the riders coming in. i have to say its not actually that exciting. I think a sprint finish would be though.

Heres the main man Floid Landes after his legendary break on the last mountain stage

Wat a cracka

The last time i tried to write this post it deleted itself and my firey red head got the better of me so i said "silly computer" and walked away(my mother know thats not what i would have said). Over the last 2 weeks Peter and i had the pleasent company of about 6-7 Irish lads. These boys were fantastic and left me with 2 things, a snotty dribbly nose (cheer boys) and a void in my heart that only there pirate like accents could fill. There stay would have to be one of the highlights of our trip though few were lucky not to sustain a blow to the head from my shoe if i had of thrown it at 5am in the morning when they got home from the previous night. Pete and i had the weekend off because there were no races but going on epic day trips to switzerland with Bella, Stevo and Wallace was much better, even though stevo managed 4 or was it 5 punctures, he asked for it when he made fun of my puncture repair kit before we set off. Our evenings were filled with swimming mostely as we managed to head up to Lake Montriond each night after a hard days riding(haha i make this sound hard). They even managed to get Pete and i out to town and give us days off as our heads hurt way too much to do anything. But i did win 6 games of pool in a row against them, i know if one being rigged though so who knows about the other 4(sorry turkey im pretty sure i won that one, but he had one amazing shot where he potted a ball). It was sad to see them go but rather amazing to see the kitchen bench top again, i thought it was gone forever. I definitally want to see them again so hopefully sooner than never.

Bang Bang

It was bastille Day on friday so on thursday night Morzine put on a fabulous fireworks display. This is something iv always remembered from previous years as they don't do it by halves. A high quality 5 minute display that puts the Aucklands sky tower displays to shame. We sat out on our deck and enjoyed the light and the sound following slowly behind.

summery not so

Not an ounce of rain in the last 6 day and we were loving it. Today we had a little race through Avoriaz, a town 800 meters higher than morzine 20 minutes up the road. We rolled through the gates in our vehicle and the rain began to to fall just as we arrived. Non of this sissy dribly stuff either this was good descent blobs of rainy goodness. It actually came as a surprise considering we just came from the lake where we were baking and splashing around like happy children. Anywho the race was through the town centre beginning with a dirt section that became mushy with the rain. Then we entered the town and rode through the streets, riding down stairs that were somewhat slippery in the wet and sneaking through some ally ways. Each race had 4 people like a 4x race and the first 2 of each round went through to the next then going till the final. There were only 2 girls and i just managed to pip the other for 1st and a handy wallet refill. We got a free dinner with our entry so our bellys got a refill to. While we were waiting for prize giving they pulled out sumo wrestling outfits for us to play with. Peter and i went a few rounds which was some what more strenuous than you would think.

Rain Rain go away

As there seems to be a shortage of races, Peter and i have taken up chillen out and not bothering to ride our bikes every day. May sound like were getting lazy but i do believe in too much of a good thing and occasionally we feel like going on holiday from bikes to. On friday while the rain fell and i had no inckling of enthusiasm to go riding we decided to head to Montreox for the Jazz festivsal. This is a big festival that goes on for 15 days and has artists like Black eye peas, sting, kid rock(haha), massive attack and loads more. We arrived in the afternoon and walked around the stalls with no intention on spending much money. We hung out at some of the free profomances that were pretty good. Ate some food and then discovered way better food down the other end after finishing my kabab. Had some chocolate bananas that were great and for some random reason made me feel like a kid. I got myself a little drum to play with and possibly drive pete crazy while i slowly discovering i have no rhythm.
While on the way to the car Peter saw some shoes that he had seen and slobbered over in the sport shop here in morzine. We both headed home happy little children with new toys to play with.
Went for a swim on the way home in lake Geneva coz its sooo amazing considering its huge and warm. It also somehow happened that i won mini golf by 11 strokes, yea ya going for the girls.

Wet and wild

No work all play is the moto im going to stick with i feel. More fun that way.
Headed down to Lake Geneva last Tuesday for a bit of a splash around on donuts and wakeboards. Iv never been in a boat on a lake and it was lovely, non of that salty stuff, which makes having water shoved in you eyes and nose that much more enjoyable. Water was magnificent and some what warmer than i ever remember the sea at our bach. Greg got us started out on the donuts, he has 2 singles and a double. I remember as a kid being terrified of falling out, but this time i took on more of a "bring it on approach" as when you came out it was generaly after gaining a meter or so of air and rotating as if it were time for the donut to give you a ride. Above: Photo of Lou and greg in the double about to take me out in the single, the double pushed me around like a little play toy. . . i loved it.
The double was great as it was very stable. . .well 80% of the time. Here Kit and pete make for higher ground, pete(on our left) didn't make it though.




My first ever attempt at wakeboarding and i think i did pretty well if i do say so myself. Got up first time and also crossed the wake, wasn't till i tried switch that i got a nasel passage cleansing. Peter got into it right away as well. Showing is a thing or two.

Country numero 6

Visited Spain this past weekend(30th -2nd july) which makes 6 countries either driven through, sat in or raced in during this trip(us, uk, france, switzerland, germany and Spain).
Pete and i had a Maxxis cup to race in Port Aine, which was in the North of Spain by Andora La Valley. It took a mighty 10 hours or so to get our race hungry bodies to what seemed the middle of nowhere with a lovely view.
Our technical friendly chalet owner lent us a little directional GPS dudaky thingy m'watsit which showed us how to get there, so our brains flatlined most of the drive other than when we put our hands out the window so see what it would be like without air conditioning in 37 degree heat. Now ill mention that the other kiwi boys didn't have air conditioning in there black Ford Transit. . . . . . haha go the lease vehicle.

After 2 races that i felt somewhat let down by i came out very happy with this weekend being our 3rd race. The track was fast although it had alot of tight switchbacks at the top and was rather dusty and loose but still grippy at the same time. . . . . ya kno wat i mean. (Wow i just confused myself by reading that). It was a great track and offered alot of challenges as to how fast you could let yourself go. It was a struggle to hold ourselves back from doing loads of practice runs as the lifts were great and each run was just pure joy. Here are the kiwi boys chillen in the sun during the lunch break

We actually arrived a day early as usually there is practice on Fridays but not this time. So with a free day to do with as we pleased in the middle of what seemed to be mullets ville(pictures to come) peter and i managed to go swimming,make a boat for butternut and find gas for our cooker(which was actually a bigger acheivement than what you'd think). In the end we realised that we really suck at entertaining ourselves in the middle of what seemed to be hiksville. Heres our kitchen and our cooker cellotaped to a rock for o natural stability.

Anywho, race went great i won both my race runs convincingly which is always a confidence booster and peter came out happy to have made it down the hill in one piece although being beaten by a girl haha. Some prize money for myself though not enough to go buy dinner for both of us any flash restaurant but always better than nothing.
Got home at some ungodly hour after ditching the race as soon as we could so that we could drive the night and missed the blistering heats. With that we got to learn a valuable lesson today(through somebody else) that rubbish thats been sitting in the bin for 3 months in the heat really really stinks, and that when you put it in your van to take to the tip it will spread it juices all through the back and make your van reak of unmentionable iky stuff. heres greg learning his lesson.